This week is all about a biography of a fascinating figure of the Meiji Restoration: Oguri Tadamasa. But it’s also about much more: about how the present shapes our view of the past, and about how, as a result, the ways we talk about someone long dead can shift and change as well.
This week, we wrap up our imperial biographies with a look at the Meiji Emperor’s relationship to three important aspects of his reign: the constitution, the wars fought in his name, and his heir. Plus, we talk Meiji’s death, and his legacy.
This week: the life of the Meiji Emperor in the turbulent 1870s and 1880s. We’ll cover everything from the birth…
This week: the boy emperor Meiji takes responsibility for Japan’s future. But what did that mean in practice? What does…
This week: Emperor Komei attempts to protect tradition in a nation beset by crisis. However, his efforts will be brought…
This week: the beginning of a multipart biography of two of the best documented figures we know very little about:…
This week: political infighting about purple robes and what it can tell us about Buddhism, political power, and the relationship…
This week: the story of Tsuneno, a commoner whose social status was very different from that of Lady Nijo and…
This week, the tale of Ogimachi Machiko–the aristocrat whose literary descriptions of her life in a samurai family became one…
This week: in 1940, a manuscript lost for over 600 years is recovered from the archives of the Imperial family.…